Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

I wrote in a recent blogpost about wines/labels from producers who purchase grapes and have hired winemakers produce their wines. And how this practice has lead to the proliferation in the number of producers and labels. While it may produce some interesting wines, these are not wines to get ‘invested’ in since many may prove to be ‘one hit wonders’, so to speak. 

This may be another such label, two enthusiasts who dip into the wine business, buying grapes and having a hired winemaker to produce their own label. Dare I call this a ‘vanity’ label? It is a name formed from the names of the co-proprietors. 

"The name 'Garric' combines the first names of co-proprietors and Chicago physicians Gary Ochwat, a foot surgeon, and Ricardo Cajulis, a pathologist. The two began dreaming of owning their own Cabernet label after their many trips to Napa Valley, and bought a home in Calistoga in 2002. The next year, they purchased grapes from two different vineyard sites to make their inaugural wine, a 2003, crafted by winemaker Pam Starr." 

MaryAnn Worobiec wrote in the November 2007 Wine Spectator, "20 Exciting New Cabernet Labels to Watch". I don’t subscribe to this hype and think Wine Spectator was short sighted to do so. Notable wine producers purchase vineyards and invest in building a brand promulgated on the terroir of the site. Indeed the great iconic brands cross multiple generations of family owned estates. 

That said, in any event, such labels can provide some great wines, but only time will tell if they last across multiple vintages so that they allow for comparisons from one year to the next. I’ve written in these pages about an earlier similarly situated Wine Spectator article about new producers that emerged with the 1994 vintage - Twenty New Producers, Hot New Labels to Watch, which formed our Napa wine discovery and pursuit and collecting for decades to follow! In retrospect, they all were founded on or ended up with estate wines from vineyard holdings. 

Garric first appeared in 2003, seemed to hit their stride with this 2007 and near vintages, but disappeared from the scene in 2016. 

CellarTracker, with its vast number of collectors’ inventory of millions of bottles is a valid testament of a producer’s and label’s presence. The CellarTracker mentions of Garric Cellar wines shows 23 labels across five wines from 2002 to 2014. A couple were only produced in one or three vintage years, with this Garric Cabernet (their ‘flagship’) label showing a dozen continuous vintages. (From CellarTracker - “CellarTracker is the leading cellar management tool with hundreds of thousands of collectors tracking more than 158 million bottles. CellarTracker has also grown to become the largest database of community tasting notes with 10 million such notes as of early 2023.”) 

My CellarTracker record shows I purchased this 2007 vintage release from Binny’s Beverage Depot, the Chicagoland big box wine superstore, in 2010, so they had a sufficient distribution presence. Published records indicate they produced 545 cases of this release. 

The Garric Cellars website and domain name are dark, hence the brand has for intents and purposes disappeared completely.

Garric Cellars GRX Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

At seventeen years, the label, foil and most importantly, the fill level and cork were in pristine condition. This wine had another decade of life remaining in its prime drinking window. 

Never-the-less, this was enjoyable drinking for the evening. From the winemaker: "2007 gave us a beautifully concentrated wine with soft velvety tannins. Bright purple black color. The nose shows off layered complexity, loaded with aromas of sweet blueberries, currants and black cherries with a hint of caramel and vanilla. In the mouth, the wine reveals flavors layered with sweet blueberries, cassis, plums and black cherries. The wine is chewy and has great balance with a long luscious finish. The wine can be approached early with decanting, yet will age effortlessly for 15+ years. This is undoubtedly the most profound Garric to date!"

545 cases were produced

We enjoyed this with winter comfort food chili dinner and a selection of artisan cheeses.

Dark blackish garnet colored, medium to full bodied, full round bright vibrant concentrated black berry plum and black currant fruits were accented with sprites of spice, cassis and tobacco leaf with chewy grainy tannins on the lingering finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?862654

www.GarricCellars.com

Juslyn Napa Valley Perry’s Blend Cabernet

Juslyn Napa Valley Perry’s Blend Cabernet 2002

With delicious grilled tenderloin beefsteaks and avocado sandwiches I pulled from the cellar this two decade old aged Napa red blend. 

This is from Juslyn Vineyards, founded and developed by Perry and Carolyn Butler back in 1997 when their dream became a reality and they sold their Silicon Valley tech business and purchased and moved to the Spring Mountain estate. 

The British ex-pats had moved from the UK to California to start the IT company in the mid-1980's. During weekend trips to Napa Valley they developed a passion for wine and the wine country lifestyle that Napa Valley offered.

They bought a picturesque 42-acre property located slightly above historic Spring Mountain Vineyard winery. The land was once a small parcel of the 540 acres that California wine pioneer Charles Krug originally acquired as the dowry of Caroline Bale, who he married in 1860. 

The site sits near another one of our favorite producers, Fantesca Vineyards and Winery, near the bottom of Spring Mountain, just above the town of St Helena. 

The Butlers set about having a villa and gardens built, along with a winery facility, which Butler named Juslyn, for daughter Justine and wife Carolyn. 

Butlers were IT (information technology) people with no expertise in the wine business other than Butler trained as a chef in England. They turned to Renteria Vineyard Management, led by Salvador and Oscar Renteria, who produced outstanding grapes for many prestigious Napa Valley vineyards to select the most appropriate varieties for the vineyards and develop them to produce the highest quality fruit.

They set about to develop vineyards in the rocky soils of the Spring Mountain estate replanting old abandoned vineyards with Bordeaux varietals - 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Upon moving to Napa Valley, the Butler’s met Art Finklestein (the founder of Judd’s Hill Winery). He made several home vintages for them. Still several years away from the maturation of their estate vineyard, in 1998 and for several years following, they purchased grapes for their early vintages until their first commercial release in 1998. 

Long time Napa winemaker, Craig MacLean was their founding winemaker. They eventually hired Brian Kosi as winemaker. A graduate of the University of California-Davis, Kosi’s career includes positions at Acacia Vineyard, Opus One, Plumpjack Winery, Beaulieu Vineyard and Freemark Abbey. 

The first wine produced under their ownership from their property was in 2000. Their first Estate Cabernet release in 2000 was a mere 80 cases, increased in 2001 to 170 cases, a wine that displayed elegance in the style of premier cru Bordeaux. Each Estate vintage increased production and improved, growing over the following two decades to about 3 tons/acre from the 8-acre hillside vineyard. 

Located in the Spring Mountain District AVA, one of the very best growing regions in the Napa Valley, grapes produced in this AVA are sold at a premium price. Average grape price in Napa Valley is around $7,000/ton; in 2017 the Juslyn owners were offered $20,000 per ton for their Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Stephanie DeMasi joined their small team in 2003 and worked with the Butlers as General Manager  until 2019. She answered an ad that Perry and Carolyn had placed for a General Manager. Her prior local wine experience involved working with Cathy Corison (well-regarded Corison Winery) and helping launch the Bounty Hunter Wine Shop in the city of Napa. She progressed to also become a partner in the brand.

The Juslyn Vineyards Perry’s Blend was sourced from both their Spring Mountain estate vineyards and some of the most highly regarded vineyards in Napa Valley. The Butler’s met Andy Beckstoffer owner of several legendary vineyards in the early years during their visits to Napa, and arranged to source fruit for this wine from some of Beckstoffer’s heritage vineyards including To Kalon, Dr. Crane and Georges III. 

Initially they simply called the wine, “Napa Blend”. During a visit to the property, wine pundit Robert Parker advised that he thought this name was too generic. Despite the fact that they had already submitted the wine to the TTB for approval, Parker wrote about it in his Wine Advocate newsletter and referred to it as “Perry’s Blend”. Calls immediately came into the winery asking for that wine and the name stuck … notably a tribute to both Mr. Parker and Perry. In later years, the wine was sourced entirely from their Spring Mountain estate fruit.

The Justyn estate was in recent years listed for sale. It was represented as “40 + acres - 6 acres planted to very high quality vines which, due to their close spacing, produce very high quailty yields that are more like 16 acres; plus an additional 4 acres that can be planted”.

The Juslyn Vineyards Wine business at the time held approximately $7.0M in inventory (2 vintages of casked wine and current vintage wine in bottle) plus about $1m plus hanging on the vines for the then current 2021 vintage.

I both hate it and love it that while trolling down in our wine cellar for a nice red blend to enjoy with grilled tenderloin beefsteaks, I come across this vintage aged wine. 

Juslyn Perry's Blend Napa Valley Red Wine 2002

This release was awarded 93 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, and 91 points by Wine Enthusiast. 

The 2002 Perry’s Blend was 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot.

At 22 years of age, the label and foil, and most importantly the fill level and cork were in pristine condition. 

Dark ruby colored with a slight grayish brownish hue settling in showing a slight diminution from aging, past its prime but sill enjoyable and should remain in drinking window for a couple more years; medium to full bodied, the black raspberry and black currant fruits were offset with notes of wood, leather, black tea and hints of cedar with moderate tannins on the lingering tangy acidic finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://juslynvineyards.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=274387

https://juslyn.com/